Leslie C. Griffin
What is the most significant issue facing your field and how should it be addressed?
The focus of my work is law and religion. The Supreme Court has decided numerous cases recently in the field of law and religion, and has a few ahead.
I have written amicus briefs for organizations supporting employees in several of those cases. I wrote one brief arguing that two Catholic elementary schoolteachers were teachers, not ministers. I wrote another brief arguing against the Trump administration’s expansion of the right of employers not to give their employees contraceptive insurance coverage.
Unfortunately, it was those cases’ dissents that agreed with me. Justice Ginsburg was on our side both times. I have heard her explaining that some of her favorite opinions were her dissents, because she hoped they would set another path for the future. I try to write in the present and keep my eyes on the future.
What's the most important thing you are working on right now?
In August I submitted another brief in the Fulton case. In Fulton, religious groups are arguing that they have a religious freedom right to do business with Philadelphia’s foster agency program while refusing to give foster children to same-sex couples. By November 4, the date of Fulton’s oral argument, we may have a new Court with a new member. My amici and I hope the same-sex couples can win this case.
When you are working on an article or a book, what's your favorite part of the process? What do you do during the process that others might find odd?
In my youth I studied a lot of Catholic theology, and was a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, my alma mater. It is interesting that we have six Catholic justices on the Supreme Court. And perhaps a seventh soon! I am writing an article on the role of Catholic justices throughout their history on the Court.
I collected the religion opinions that all of them had written, and analyzed them by author. Sometimes, however, a justice is a deciding vote in a religion case even though he or she did not write an opinion. So I am figuring out how the votes counted!
What is it about being a law school professor that inspires or motivates you?
My great students! I enjoy discussing with my students in L&R all the current developments in law and religion on the Court, and their connection and disconnection with past cases.
I am also inspired by my first-year Torts students, who ask questions all the time!